Silver Plate
by thirteencharms
Summary: Short One-shot story of how Kenshin tells Kaoru about how he feels.


Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is copyrighted to Nobuhiro Watsuki   
  
Kenshin sighed at the glorious silver plate in the sky, which was dotted with stars. The moon was bright that night, a sure win to any man trying impress a woman, just to win her heart. He looked at the closed shoji door on his right, where behind it laid his beloved. He returned his eyes to the moon and sighed once again. Yes, he was inlove. He always had been, ever since the silly young girl pointed her bokken at him naively. He never thought that such a girl would have so much courage to challenge another man, who could possibly mean danger.  
  
"Kaoru..." he whispered ever so soft, with tenderness and love in his voice. He winced at the thought that he could never reveal such feelings. She deserved someone better than a vagabond, with many lives dead under his sword. A pass tainted with hate, pain and death. To stain such a beautiful creature full of life, innocence and beauty would be a sin. He wouldn't know what to tell Kami-sama why he would commit such a since on his judgement day. But to hold her in his arms, to kiss her sweet lips would just be the sweetest sin. He had seen Kaoru grow up infront of his very eyes. From a naive tomboy to a delicately feminine woman, who knew what she wanted. Though she was still tomboyish, he could see her very grace with every flip of her raven hair and even when she swings down the bokken on Yahiko's head.  
  
Her spirit had become stronger due to the experiences she had. The experiences that he wished she didn't go through. They were from his past of blood and torment, creeping up to him and making his life miserable. He enclosed all of this to himself, though he knew that she would one day pry it open. Despite through the horror she had gone through from his past enemies, she still spring in life into him. She made him see that he could love again, that he deserved a family, like anyone else. No one, except Tomoe, had shown him life in another perspective aside from the political and pessimistic ones.  
  
She had accepted his past, even though he knew she wished she had never heard of Tomoe. He wasn't the oblivious rurouni everyone thought he was. He knew Kaoru had feelings for him, and that she thought she could never hold a candle to Tomoe. Their comparison was impossible. Tomoe was a perfect Japanese woman, refined, quiet and matured. Kaoru was exactly the opposite, tomboyish, hot-tempered and innocent. Although she frowned at her own attributes, he was allured to it. Her boyish ways made her seem strong, her hot tempers meant no one could mess with her and her innocence meant that she was still experiencing things and that she would be willing to accept anything. All of her attributes made her in to the fine, strong and caring woman that she was.  
  
Of course, Kenshin was a man, he surely was physically attracted to her. Her curves have been showing more often and her beauty radiated and lit up the dojo. Kenshin longed to see her creamy long legs hidden under her long kimonos and to run his fingers through her silky ebony hair. More often than not, he caught himself staring at her bosoms, which were bind with loose binds under her training gear. His face grew hot, knowing he shouldn't think of such disgraceful things. Not that her chest was disgraceful...  
  
A shuffle on the wooden floor snapped him out of his thoughts. Kaoru had gone out of her room and had taken a seat beside Kenshin. She took his breath away, with her hair limp and dancing in the breeze. Her yukata was loose, giving him a peek of her beautiful body.  
  
"Ano, Kenshin, why are you up so late?" Kaoru asked as she yawned. She unconsciously rested her head on his shoulder, making his breathing even more irregular, "Sessha was thinking about some things, that sessha was."  
  
Kaoru bit her lip at the word 'sessha'. He knew he shouldn't speak in such a manner, regarding himself as unworthy. Kaoru questioned, "About what?"  
  
Kenshin gulped. What would he say? About lusting after her? About them? About their relationship? He cleared his throat, "You, Kaoru-dono." Kaoru sat up, eyes wide in shock. Her cheeks blushed crimson and she stammered, "N-Nani? Doushite..I mean..alright.."  
  
This was it, he was going to tell her. He cannot handle this secret anymore as it was consuming every part of him.  
  
"I'm sorry if I'm very straightforward, Kaoru," He chuckled when Kaoru smiled at his disregard of the honorific, "It's just I have been feeling something about you for quite a long while now." Kaoru nodded, placing a hand on his. "It's very hard to keep inside. I was worried that maybe if I tell you, my past would affect this somehow. I could care less right now, Kaoru. I had promised to protect you with my life and now, I would solemnly stick by it. I'm a simple man, with simple needs. And I need you to know, Kaoru, that I love you."  
  
Kenshin looked eagerly, waiting for a reply. He hoped that she would reply with a positive answer. But what he got was more than he expected. Before her knew it, Kaoru had thrown her arms around him and began to sob. Kenshin smiled. It definitely was a positive answer.  
  
"Kenshin, aishiteru. I've waited so long for this proposal," Kaoru said between sobs. Kenshin stiffen at the last word. Proposal? Kaoru felt this and pulled away, "That WAS a proposal, wasn't it?"  
  
He blinked a few times, muttered and oro and mumbled something Kaoru couldn't here. She took her hand and carressed his scarred cheek, "Nani? What did you say?"  
  
"Marry this unworthy one, PLEASE," Kenshin said, his violet eyes sparkling. Kaoru smiled from ear to ear,"Alright, that I will."   
  
Kenshin smiled as he conquered her lips with his own, carressing them with tenderness while enjoying its sweetness at the same time. Kaoru was finally his, as he, hers own. 


End file.
